At What Level Of Cognizance Do You Reveal

[ChaoticPrecision]

At What Level Of Cognizance Do You Reveal the basics of hell to children?

It seems, to me, that one should only show the love of Jesus, and the benefits thereof, to a child before sharing with them Hell.

Otherwise, it plays into the impressionistic side of an undeveloped mind. No child wants to burn in Hell for eternity, so the first thoughts of most children are about how to avoid that.

It seems unfair that children are allowed the thought pattern of fear, to bias their opinions upon faith. A scare tactic if you will, at such a young and impressionable age.

Wouldn't it seem more fit if, teachers of Christianity, allowed children to gravitate towards the beliefs upon the merits of love? Rather than telling them they truly have no choice, other than the torrents of pain that hell provides, as opposed to the beautiful side of Christianity?

 

[Digit]

At What Level Of Cognizance Do You Reveal the basics of hell to children?

It seems, to me, that one should only show the love of Jesus, and the benefits thereof, to a child before sharing with them Hell.

Otherwise, it plays into the impressionistic side of an undeveloped mind. No child wants to burn in Hell for eternity, so the first thoughts of most children are about how to avoid that.

It seems unfair that children are allowed the thought pattern of fear, to bias their opinions upon faith. A scare tactic if you will, at such a young and impressionable age.

Wouldn't it seem more fit if, teachers of Christianity, allowed children to gravitate towards the beliefs upon the merits of love? Rather than telling them they truly have no choice, other than the torrents of pain that hell provides, as opposed to the beautiful side of Christianity?

First of all I think you version of Hell is based off of Hollywoods. It isn't like that, and it isn't detailed in the Bible very much. Care to think why? In thousands of pages, it focuses on the love of God, rather than his punishment, and that's how I feel it should be with children too. A child will only react badly later on, when they have an unfirm foundation in faith, but a very firm fear of punishment. It will just crumble and I feel the child will likely stray from God.

The teachings of Hell will come through as you progress through the Bible, I have no real set age or plan for my children. It will be as God wills it.

Digit

 

[ebia]

At What Level Of Cognizance Do You Reveal the basics of hell to children?

It seems, to me, that one should only show the love of Jesus, and the benefits thereof, to a child before sharing with them Hell.

Yes

Otherwise, it plays into the impressionistic side of an undeveloped mind. No child wants to burn in Hell for eternity, so the first thoughts of most children are about how to avoid that.

Yes

It seems unfair that children are allowed the thought pattern of fear, to bias their opinions upon faith. A scare tactic if you will, at such a young and impressionable age.

Absolutely.

Wouldn't it seem more fit if, teachers of Christianity, allowed children to gravitate towards the beliefs upon the merits of love? Rather than telling them they truly have no choice, other than the torrents of pain that hell provides, as opposed to the beautiful side of Christianity?

Yes. Jesus said: "Let the little children come to me", not "scare the living daylights out of them and hope they run away in my direction"

 

[ChaoticPrecision]

Well said, Ebia. Well said.

 

[talitha]

It is important to be guided by the Holy Spirit in all things, IMHO. Some children are ready for things before other children are.

 

[Catherineanne]

At What Level Of Cognizance Do You Reveal the basics of hell to children?

It seems, to me, that one should only show the love of Jesus, and the benefits thereof, to a child before sharing with them Hell.

I personally believe that to teach any child under the age of 12 (that is, High School age) a literal doctrine of literal hell fire as punishment for sin equates to child abuse. Just as they are too young to watch graphic horror films, they are too young to hear this kind of stuff, however people may pretend it is biblically justified.

Others may differ in their opinions, but I think such behaviour is inexcusable, and may in some cases lead to severe disturbance.

 

[Deren]

At What Level Of Cognizance Do You Reveal the basics of hell to children?

When they can understand it. And believe me, young children are a lot more perceptive when it comes to such things than adults often times give them credit.

It seems, to me, that one should only show the love of Jesus, and the benefits thereof, to a child before sharing with them Hell.

What difference does it make, so long as the truth in love is shared with anyone about any subject?

Otherwise, it plays into the impressionistic side of an undeveloped mind. No child wants to burn in Hell for eternity, so the first thoughts of most children are about how to avoid that.

Excuse me? If the first thoughts of most children are about avoiding hell, then why wouldn't the Christian want to share with the child the truthfulness about hell, and what it takes to avoid it? One would think that to impress such information on the child just might facilitate the alleviation of those first thoughts by helping them establish a right relationship with God, whereby they are dependant upon Him for the salvation from hell. And that would be a good thing, wouldn't it?

It seems unfair that children are allowed the thought pattern of fear, to bias their opinions upon faith. A scare tactic if you will, at such a young and impressionable age.

And one ought not be to afraid of hell? Besides, once again, if whomever knows where they're going after this life is over, such knowledged is predicated upon sound biblical principles, then what difference does it make at what age such security is garnered?

Wouldn't it seem more fit if, teachers of Christianity, allowed children to gravitate towards the beliefs upon the merits of love? Rather than telling them they truly have no choice, other than the torrents of pain that hell provides, as opposed to the beautiful side of Christianity?

Personally, in 26 years of being a Christian, the subject of hell has not been brought up all that often, even among adults. So, I really don't know what you're talking about here.

The fact of the matter is, if more Christian teachers, preachers, and laypersons actually took hell more seriously, then perhaps we wouldn't have our schools loaded with the juvenile delinquents, murderers, rapists, thieves, and thugs that walk their halls.

Morever, if those same Christian teachers, preachers, and laypersons actually spoke of God's love toward the sinner, it might have more of a positive effective upon the sinner to repent, than the "sloppy agape" that too many persons want to preach, that has absolutely zero impact upon anyone, other than to cause people to reject the sugar-shock brought on by such slop.

So, I really don't think your comments have any merit, given that they have departed from reality, and have absolutely no biblical support either.

 

[MelissaShae]

I have two daughters my oldest being 4 and she knows about God, Jesus, Heaven and hell and Satan. We don't go into great detail about it but she knows that Satan is bad and he lives in hell and that Jesus is good and he lives in Heaven and she will tell you that good people go to heaven to see Jesus and they will be happy and singing all the time. And she thinks all bad people go to jail (obviously she is too young to know all about hell)......she thinks God puts bad people in jail because they were bad which is basically the same concept as hell but here on earth.


Catherineann said
I personally believe that to teach any child under the age of 12 (that is, High School age) a literal doctrine of literal hell fire as punishment for sin equates to child abuse. Just as they are too young to watch graphic horror films, they are too young to hear this kind of stuff, however people may pretend it is biblically justified.

I think that you can teach children in a childlike way so that they are not afraid of the bible and they understand the overall meaning.

And describing hell and watching a horror movie is totally different than child abuse. I was abused mentally, emotionally and physically throught my childhood and it is such a horrible thing to be abused and watching a scary movie or hearing of hell and the devil is not abuse. So please don't compare them to abuse because that is not abuse, it may not be tactiful or good parenting but it is not abuse.

 

[Catherineanne]

So please don't compare them to abuse because that is not abuse, it may not be tactiful or good parenting but it is not abuse.

I beg to differ.

It is child abuse, imho, to teach young children about a literal hell fire. Just as it is child abuse to allow them to watch age inappropriate films.

 

[heron]

The term abuse spans from horrible offenses that will stick in the mind forever and impact most of one's life; to neglect, manipulation or demeaning. She was not saying this to belittle what you have gone through.

http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/fm/childafs.html

http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/fm/spouseafs.html

 

[Catherineanne]

She was not saying this to belittle what you have gone through.

Thanks for the links, Heron. Very sobering reading.

I hope I would never belittle anyone who has been abused in any way, nor defend any abuses.

I find it rather strange that anyone would feel the need to defend their corner, however, and claim that because their own personal experience of abuse is genuine, that they then have the right to state that another postulated kind is not as authentic or genuine.

Such an attitude is beyond my understanding, because it seems to equate to saying that if I believe my experience of abuse to be worse than yours, I can therefore conclude that you have no right to comment about abuse. This cannot be reasonable. Anyone on earth is qualified to state their opinion about what constitutes reasonable child care, and what constitutes potentially damaging behaviour, whether or not they happen to have been on the receiving end themselves.

 

[MelissaShae]

We all have to the right to parent in our own ways and we will know what is best for our children, so each parent is different in their approach about talking about hell with their children. It is a personal choice and should be thought thru before a parent has that conversation with their child.

 

[heron]

Getting away from terminology, I agree that a parent knows what their child can handle, and I agree that it's not appropriate for very young ages. Many children don't understand the concept of death until someone close to them doesn't reappear.

 

[MelissaShae]

Getting away from terminology, I agree that a parent knows what their child can handle, and I agree that it's not appropriate for very young ages. Many children don't understand the concept of death until someone close to them doesn't reappear.

I agree. I apologize Catherineann, it is a touchy subject for me and struck a nerve, I did not mean to jump on you about it.

And yes young children and best to know that when someone passes away they go to heaven or something along those lines and then as they get older then you gradually tell them about hell if the parent sees fit too. I read bible stories to my daughter from a children's bible and that also helps.